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We are 6.72 billion people in the world and since the beginning of times, we organized ourselves into communities. That was indeed the natural way to behave as a species. The hundreds of communities are Nations and each one of them has its own laws to maintain order. When one thinks of it, it is like a game. Each Nation looks out for its own population so it looks good in front of the other Nations... like it was a contest to determine which is the best. Unfortunately, since the rules and standards defining each Nation are different from one another, the contest is biased and unfair from the start. Over simplistic? I suppose so...

However, no matter the rules of each Nation, the most efficient and fast way to see how healthy a society is, would be to look at the crime rates. It is obviously difficult to quantify such a wide notion... from one Nation to the other, how one defines and "counts" crime might even differ.

All right then, how do Nations of the world deal with crime? It is commonly known that it surely depends on its nature. Not that long ago, the death penalty was the quickest way to do it. So, let me ask this: what difference is there between the offenders and the judges?

Centuries ago, a thief was sentenced to death... I wonder, which one was the greatest crime? But wait... in China (except for Hong-Kong and Macau where death penalty was abolished) a thief can still be sentenced to death! In other countries (Sudan, Uganda, Zambia, Iran, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam) it is used to punish "aggravated robbery" or "armed robbery"...

According to Amnesty International, 59 countries are still using the death penalty as a punishment and 90 have abolished it. 45 countries (35 of which have not used it in ten years) permit its use depending on the gravity of the crime...

The death penalty is still largely spread around the world when one looks at these figures... does it make crime decrease? If it did, would there still be so many executions in the world? In 2007, Africa counted more than 29; Asia, 967 and plus; Europe (in Belarus), 3; North America and Caribbean (in United States), 42.

United States do not have the highest rate of execution in the world but they are second in the ranks... In fact, 36 states out 50 still use the death penalty as a punishment against unspeakable crimes. It makes me sad... I mean, this great Nation that is supposedly grand, where freedom and dreams are at everybody's reach (theoretically speaking)... such a powerful Nation which,

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